I’m a big fan of John DeCaro’s practice audio. I especially love the way he does the Q & A. His Q & A actually has different people dictating along with him so that you hear more than one person’s voice. This is helpful to me because I noticed that I have developed a habit of making a stroke for a speaker designation every time I hear a voice inflection from a speaker. I believe that I developed this habit from practicing too much Q & A dictation where one speaker is doing two voices. Hopefully, practicing to John DeCaro’s Q & A dictation, and other Q & A dictation, where there is more than one speaker will help me break this habit.

Four times a year, the Oxford English Dictionary adds new words. The rapid growth of technology and social media in our society, demands that language grows along with it. How else would we be able to describe the myriad of activities that new technology affords us?

The rapid growth of language is the catalyst for a new blog category on www.ILoveSteno.com, called, “New Words.”

The New Words blog posts will share some of the newly added words to the English lexicon. It is important for court reporters to keep up with advancements in language and vocabulary.

“In the summer, I play baseball. In the winter, I work baseball. In the summer, when I get hurt playing. I write down what I hurt, the date I hurt it, and how I hurt it. In the winter, I look at that chart, and I see where my body is weak, and I work to strengthen that part of my body.”

This above quote can be used as an analogy to steno. Improvement is based on analyzing skill and weaknesses. Recognizing, making note of, and working on “problem areas” is one of the major keys to success.

Queen is defined as the following: “The female ruler of an independent state, especially one who inherits the position by right of birth.” “The most powerful chess piece that each player has.” “A woman that is foremost or preeminent in any respect.” “The fertile fully developed female of social bees, ants, and termites whose function is to lay eggs.”

A quean is defined as the following: “A overly forward, impudent woman.” “A prostitute.” By Scottish definition, it is defined as: “A woman who is young or unmarried.”

Oprah’s 10 Rules For Success:
1) Don’t live your life to please others.
2) Don’t depend on forces outside of yourself to get ahead.
3) Seek harmony and compassion in your business and personal life.
4) Get rid of the backstabbers. Surround yourself only with people who will lift you higher.
5) Be nice.
6) Rid yourself of your addictions- whether they be food, alcohol, behavior habits.
7) Surround yourself with people who are as smart or smarter than yourself.
8) If money is your motivation, forget it.
9) Never hand over your power to someone else.
10) Be persistent in pursuing your dreams.

Here’s a great video I came across on You Tube from Moss4ACI’s page. This video is great practice for car accident phrases and briefs. It isn’t a speed practice video, although it does include some practice sentences along with the briefs and phrases.